Book Review: All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen

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Title: All the Broken Pieces
Author: Cindi Madsen
Pages: 304
Genre: YA Contemporary/Mystery
Release Date: 11 December 2012

From Goodreads: "Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember. 

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?"

Thank you to Entangled Teen for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for review!

This was such an interesting book to read. The concept of a character waking up from a coma with absolutely no memories but has two different voices inside of her head really had me curious as to what happened to this girl. While you don't get to find out what really happened until the last nine pages of the book, it certainly kept me hooked from start to finish!

There were several things throughout this book that I feel should have given me some serious hints as to what was going on, and I did have a few ideas as to what might have been happening with Liv, but I was certainly kept guessing until the literal end of the book. While I wasn't necessarily surprised when Liv discovered the truth about her past, I can say it was interesting. I was definitely flipping through the pages of the book once or twice after finishing trying to put together some things that had me scratching my head. One thing I realized that I basically just glanced over is that Liv's mother is named Victoria Francesca Stein and I could not believe that I didn't just put the pieces together then and there! Cindi Madsen did a wonderful job at keeping me so interested and curious about Liv's past that I flew through this book and over some really big hints!

Liv was a really complex character in that she had two voices in her head and was almost two different people in one body. She had a voice that wanted to fit in, and a voice that didn't care about fitting in at all. I liked that she was able to have multiple opinions and viewpoints on things and I feel that having the two voices in her head really allowed the author to expand upon Liv and her personality and character development. One of my favorite things about Liv was her growth throughout the book. She began as a very sheltered girl due to her accident, but she was able to expand her world once she met Spencer and he helped her learn about all of the things that she had forgotten.

While it may sound odd, I actually really liked Liv's parents. They were so mysterious and secretive, and it really kept me wondering what happened to Liv. It was really obvious that they didn't know what they were doing parenting-wise, but that they were also trying their best to take care of Liv. After reading the book and going back and skimming through, they weren't the absolutely terrible people that I thought they were. However the twist at the end certainly had me both horrified and sympathetic towards them! But besides Liv, I'd have to say her parents were my favorite characters to read.

Something that I really had an issue with in this book was the relationship between Liv and Spencer. Throughout most of the book, Spencer is night and day with his feelings towards Liv. One day he is all about her but the next, he wouldn't even acknowledge her existence. It was incredibly frustrating to follow and it was a large part of the story, unfortunately. It was nice once they finally worked things out but until then, I found myself wanting to just put the book down because of how much I did not enjoy their unnecessarily complicated relationship.

Overall, I really enjoyed All the Broken Pieces! The writing is very captivating and keeps you guessing, and the character development from start to finish is really well done. If you're looking for a good YA thriller with a story line that will keep you guessing, be sure to check this book out!


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